1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless networks for computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus that uses reverse advertising to configure a new wireless device to join an existing wireless network.
2. Related Art
Wireless networks provide an attractive alterative to convention wire-based computer networks. It is presently possible to equip a computing device with a low-cost wireless transceiver that enables the computing device to communicate through a wireless network. This avoids the expense and delay involved in running cable through a building to connect the computing device to a wire-based network. Moreover, the computing device can be easily moved to a new location within the building without having to reconfigure the network connection. Furthermore, a wireless network can be used to connect a portable computing device, such as a laptop computer or a personal organizer, to a computer network, without having to plug the portable computing device into a cable.
However, in order to communicate across a wireless network, a computing device must somehow be configured to join the wireless network. This can be a challenge because there may exist many wireless networks within transceiver range that a computing device can potentially join. The computing device can simply join the network with the strongest signal strength, but if there are lots of wireless networks within transceiver range, the computing device is likely to join the wrong network.
Furthermore, if the wireless network makes use of an encryption key for security purposes, the wireless device must somehow obtain the encryption key. It is not a problem to manually type in the encryption key if the computing device is a laptop computer with a keyboard and a display. However, if the computing device is a peripheral device, such as a printer, there may be no easy way to enter an encryption key (or other configuration information) into the computing device.
Hence, what is needed is a method and apparatus for configuring a computing device to join a wireless network without the above-described problems.